Regulation of higher education

Effective regulation is essential to provide accountability for public funds, protect the interests of students and safeguard the reputation of UK higher education.

We are working closely with government, the funding bodies and the Quality Assurance Agency to make sure regulation and quality assurance continues to be effective now and into the future. We work with the national funding bodies to ensure there is a consistent approach to quality assessment across the UK.

Our current areas of focus include the government's Higher Education White
Paper and the related Higher
Education and Research Bill. The bill includes proposals for the establishment of an Office for Students, the Teaching Excellence Framework,
and the entry of new providers into the higher education 'market'. ​

As these reforms are developed and introduced, we aim to ensure that:

there is consistency and comparability of arrangements across the whole of the UK

external quality assessment is proportionate, risk based and founded on effective institutional assurance arrangements

the sector maintains a shared and robust baseline of quality

regulation protects students against transient, negligent and poor quality providers

UK higher education is a global success story. It generates £27.9 billion in revenue, employs over 262,700 staff and has over two million students. There are nearly 200 universities with degree awarding powers, most of which are members of Universities UK. These universities range from small specialists to large multi-faculty institutions, each with their own distinctive strengths and missions. The success of UK higher education is founded on the diversity and autonomy of its universities.

The third annual report on the effects of the introduction of the new higher education fees arrangements for UK and EU-domiciled full-time undergraduates attending higher education institutions in England.

This is the second annual report on the effects of the introduction of the new higher education fees arrangements for UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduates attending higher education institutions in England.

This is the first of what is intended to be a regular series of short publications. It will enable the effects of the new variable fees arrangements for UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduates attending Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Events

Blogs

Today saw a lot of media coverage and fanfare around a new 'degree course ranking' system. In reality, this was simply the launch of a long-awaited consultation on how to implement a subject-level version of the Teaching Excellence Framework.

News

Universities UK has responded to the publication of the Office for Students’ (OfS) new regulatory framework. The document sets out how the OfS – the new regulator for higher education in England – will carry out its work from April 2018 onwards.